


A Picture's Worth

by crossingwinter



Series: a picture's worth [1]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-16
Updated: 2019-07-16
Packaged: 2020-06-29 20:56:04
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,257
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19838359
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/crossingwinter/pseuds/crossingwinter
Summary: reyjay: hiya your art is amazingreyjay: it’s a big ask but could you draw me for my art final tomorrow? i’m shit at drawing people and i can’t fail this. can you help?He stares.And stares.And stares.kyloren: is this some kind of a joke?reyjay: no?? why??kyloren: you’re asking me to help you cheat your exam, but you’re not even offering me money?





	A Picture's Worth

**Author's Note:**

  * For [selunchen](https://archiveofourown.org/users/selunchen/gifts).



> Shows up halfway through July with a late birthday present for Selunchen
> 
> Ooooop.
> 
> Based on a true story.

It’s nearly midnight when Ben checks his Instagram.

He tries not to look at his phone too much. The thing stresses him out, constantly beeping and buzzing and popping with notifications from Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Tumblr. He hates that he was born in the era of 24/7 communication and not a hundred years ago when he could have gone off to the countryside with an easel and not made contact with anyone for days.

He should have been a recluse.

Instead, he has to manage a million accounts, because how the fuck else is he going to make money?

He’d dropped out of college before they could have kicked him out. Drinking was a thing he’d started doing—and heavily—the second he was out of the house and beginning to realize that not only was his childhood “not normal” but that nothing and no one would ever make up for that fact. Alcohol helped him forget it.

And graffitiing, which is what he’d turned to after he’d dropped out.

Graffiti turned to painting, turned to pinching pennies to afford another painting class, turned to four different online “put my drawing on your coffee mug” accounts and social media. Endless social media. Because if he posted his pictures on Social Media with links to his shops, he got some more pennies to pinch together.

He gets a lot of DMs, people wanting him to draw for free ( _ no, but if you pay me I will _ ), spambots. He gets into a lot of fights with art thieves who think that they can just post his pictures without his permission ( _ fucking jagoffs, every single one of them _ ), but this—this is probably the weirdest one he’s gotten yet.

_ reyjay: hiya your art is amazing _

_ reyjay: it’s a big ask but could you draw me for my art final tomorrow? i’m shit at drawing people and i can’t fail this. can you help? _

He stares.

And stares. 

And stares.

_ kyloren: is this some kind of a joke? _

_ reyjay: no?? why?? _

_ kyloren: you’re asking me to help you cheat your exam, but you’re not even offering me money? _

_ reyjay: i got no money but how about nudes? i don’t mind sending them. _

That’s when Ben clicks onto her profile.

There are a lot of pictures and her and what appears to be her boyfriend, both wearing sunglasses, doing what he can only assume are college kid things. College has changed in the past ten years since he was there, and it’s not like he was there for very fucking long. There are pictures of her textbooks with the phrases  _ please kill me why am I an engineering major? _

And it starts to click.

She probably needed it for some dumb fucking credit or something.

He tabs back to the DM and right in his face is a topless picture of her, her nipples small and pink and stiff and goosebumps visible on her arms.

_ kyloren: ok thank you but i didn’t agree to nudes. are you over 18? _

_ reyjay: i’m 19 dw.  _

_ reyjay: listen please? i can’t fail this exam. _

And because he’s probably going to hell, definitely going to hell, he scrolls back up and looks at her tits again. Pleasingly small. They’d probably be fun to draw, actually, the shape of them, the way they cast a shadow in—what he presumes—is her dorm room. It’s a mess, he can see clothes and books strewn across the floor behind her. Honestly, this...would be a fun portrait.

_ kyloren: it’s supposed to be a self portrait? when’s it due? _

_ reyjay: tomorrow at noon. please?????? _

And another topless picture appears, this time with her giving him puppy dog eyes.

Yeah he’s going to hell. And he’s never fucking putting in his bio that he accepts payment in nudes because apparently he does.

_ kyloren: can you send me a pic of your art style? don’t want to get you caught for plagiarizing. also do you want me to draw the selfies you just sent or like...something else. _

_ reyjay: oifajewklmeadko;nlaeg _

_ reyjay: omg _

_ reyjay: thank you so so so much _

It’s not an answer to his question. He waits. She sends him three sketches—she’s not bad, in all honesty, but he has no clue what kind of a dick her art professor is. 

He waits.

_ kyloren: no but seriously, do you want me to draw your titpics? _

_ reyjay: i’m looking for something better. the assignment is something we think captures our spirit. _

_ kyloren: well i don’t know you so the only thing i’ve got of your spirit is will send nudes to strangers on the internet to pass my art final. _

_ reyjay: then tbh go for it. she’s an art prof, right? she’s probably seen all the tits. _

_ kyloren: ya. probably. _

_ kyloren: i’ll get back to you asap. _

_ reyjay: by noon, yeah? _

_ kyloren: ya _

Which is how he finds himself staring at the picture of Rey that she’d sent. He sketches her first, the rough outline of her head and torso, the background of her dorm room. Actually—

_ kyloren: background or no background? _

_ reyjay: none is probably fine. i wouldn’t put in the effort for it. _

_ kyloren: got it _

Ok, so her face. She’s got this look in her eyes, simultaneously plaintive but also stubborn and determined and sort of like she’d punch him if he were a dick to her. Her lips are tight, as though she’s trying not to smile because smiling is weird in this situation, but also a little bit nervous because she is sending a picture of her tits to a stranger online, without any thought of consequence. Or maybe the consequences are so dire that she doesn’t really care if the internet has her tits documented forever.

_ kyloren: you afraid of flunking out of school or something? _

_ reyjay: losing my scholarship. i can’t afford school w/o it. so same thing, yeah? _

_ kyloren: got it. _

It sort of makes his heart hurt, which might be why he spends a little too much time on that determined line of her mouth. He’s trying to keep it simple, keep it as close to her style as he can. But it’s hard. He can go so much more intense than she can. He could do her justice.

But he sighs. A project for another time, maybe. Keeping her in school for now.

He does draw her tits, does get to play with the shadowing of them and the angle of the camera. He sketches and sketches and when at last he does send her the final draft, the sun is peeping through his curtains. 

_ kyloren: this good? What’s your email i’ll send you the hq version. _

_ reyjay: 😍😍😍😍😍 _

She provides the email and he sends it. Then takes a deep breath.

_ kyloren: hey would you mind if i drew a better version of this for my instagram? or do you not want your tits splayed across the entire internet. _

There’s a pause. She’s gone to bed, or is submitting the picture, or is horrified at the request or something. (Though if it’s the latter, that’s really some fucking nerve on her part, given that she just bribed him with nudes to draw her for free.)

_ reyjay: ya that’s fine. if you’d like. but can you wait a bit to post it? like after the semester is over? _

_ kyloren: sure thing. _

He yawns.

He should go to bed.

But he goes back to his tablet, and looks at Rey’s eyes in that picture again, and starts to draw.

**Author's Note:**

> Many thanks to monsterleadmehome for giving this one a gander.
> 
> Hope you enjoyed! Come find me on...
> 
> twitter: crossing_winter  
> pillowfort: crossingwinter


End file.
